Wireless networks are telecommunication networks that use radio waves to carry information from one node in the network to one or more receiving nodes in the network. Cellular telephony is characterized by the use of radio cells that provide radio coverage for a geographic area, with multiple cells arranged to provide contiguous radio coverage over a larger area. Wired communication can also be used in portions of a wireless network, such as between cells or access points.
Wireless communication technologies are used in connection with many user equipment, including, for example, satellite communications systems, portable digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, and mobile devices (e.g., cellular telephones). One benefit that users of such devices can obtain is the ability to connect to a network (e.g., the Internet) as long as the user is within range of such a wireless communication technology. Current wireless communication systems use either, or a combination of, circuit switching and packet switching in order to provide mobile data services to mobile devices. Generally speaking, with circuit-based approaches, wireless data is carried by a dedicated (and uninterrupted) connection between the sender and recipient of data using a physical switching path. Packet-based approaches, on the other hand, typically do not permanently assign transmission resources to a given session, and do not require the set-up and tear-down of physical connections between a sender and receiver of data. In general, a data flow in packet-based approaches is divided into separate segments of information or packets. The data flow may include a number of packets or a single packet.
The Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard is an exemplary standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. The standard as developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). A 3GPP LTE network is a connection-oriented transmission network and, as such, requires the establishment of a “virtual” connection between two endpoints, such as between a User Equipment (UE) and a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW). These virtual connections are referred to as “bearers.” To avoid network congestion, the PGW in a given 3GPP LTE operator network can sometimes pre-empt existing bearers which are connected to a particular Access Point Name (APN) or Packet Data Network (PDN), or reject requests from UEs to create new bearers.